Worst vacation day ever! (and we've had some bad one)

September 4 – If we rate today on a scale of 1 – 10, it would be a minus 2.  We left the campground at around 9 for a day in Vermont visiting cheese farms and other places I marked on the map.  Once we got out on the road Bill saw 2 panel lights on the RV.  One was a “Check Engine” and the other was “Check Brake Fuse”.  He pulled over as soon as he could find a space along the 2 lane road to do so.  I went out and tried to see if the brake lights to the RV and the car were working.  The sun was shining right on the rear of the vehicles and it was tough to tell.  I thought the car was on but not the RV.  Not good!  Bill first called our tech, Frank to ask where to find the fuse panel for the brakes and he said it would be hard as they put them in different places on just about every model.  So Bill called our dealer and asked them and they said the same thing.  He said we needed to take it to a Freightliner Chassis dealer and found the closest one to us.  It was in Londonderry, NH about 100 miles south.  So Bill called them and the service manager said he could check it out this afternoon but if they couldn’t fix it today it would not be until Tuesday!  That was not sounding good before we even started.

So we headed on down the interstate and it was only a few miles off to the dealership.  We waited in the RV over an hour before they got to us.  We read, ate our lunch, played solitaire, and read some more.  The tech spent 5 hours and could not find the problem.  The fuses all checked out fine once he found them and he did all kinds of computer diagnostics but the last we heard they were going to call the RV manufacturer and talk to them. 

 So we were told to leave it there.  Well, I found a campground about 20 minutes away so we called and went.  It has a golf course that looks pretty nice but once you get past that it is literally and figuratively all down hill.  What I call a “deliverance” campground.  For $40 I was expecting something much nicer.  Trees were scraping the top and sides of the RV on the way in and then I had to back in for the first time.  Bill drove behind me to the campground since he had brake lights and I did not.  I called the local Market Basket grocery store and told the manager our problem and asked if we could bring our frozen foods and leave them there.  He said we could.  We knew the dealer would not be able to leave the RV plugged in to power and we didn’t want the generator running 24/7 so we would have to empty the fridge and turn it off. 

We had a quick leftovers meal and then loaded 2 Trader Joe bags with frozen blueberries, rhubarb and our other stuff and took it to Market Basket.  We bought a Styrofoam cooler since we had our plug in cooler with us.  We made a stop at McDonald’s to use the WIFI and have an iced coffee and got back to the RV just after 9.  We packed out clothes and toiletries, packed Molly’s food and the “dry goods” we would be taking.  We decided to try and go to VT tomorrow then on to PA and maybe NY on the way back.  I needed to call and cancel our RV reservations and look at pet friendly motels instead.  What a major CRAPPY day!